The World Cup

What a crazy couple weeks it has been in South Africa. The World Cup has completely enveloped my life here, as well as the departure of the entire house and many of my close friends from around the city.

The World Cup began in this country long before June 11th. When the country was drawn to host the 2010 World Cup, many infrastructure changes have seen the cities around South Africa update to host all 32 countries and its citizens travelling here. Since moving here there have been advertisements and countdowns on everything from television stations to shop’s windows. On the 10th of June, we went to the Cape Town “Grand Parade” FIFA fan park to get our bearings correct before coming the next day for the opening match. We all had USA flags on our backs and were quickly swarmed with people wanting pictures with us. Three different television stations from South Africa and France interviewed me. It was as we were celebrities, haha.

The opening day South Africa match crew:

June 11th, 2010 marks one of the most exciting days of my life. I really cannot express how I was feeling with the World Cup finally coming to South Africa and being able to watch Bafana Bafana play the opening match. We got the fan park five hours before game-time to make sure we could get in. It was a good decision because they closed the gates about 30 minutes after we were in because the park was at capacity. The afternoon involved a ton of live music, beer, friends and meeting people. When the game started, the country’s eyes were 100% fixed on the game. When Siphiwe Tshabalala opened up the scoring for South Africa, this entire country literally erupted. I have never screamed so loud in my life and thrown so much beer all over everyone around me (they were doing the same). Not only was it one of the most spectacular shots into the upper right shelf, it was South Africa, FIFA ranked 82nd in the world playing against a much more experienced Mexican side. The Mexico goal sucked, but the fact that SA got a point out of the days games was glorious enough for everyone here and allowed us to keep our spirits up until they played again.

Ari & I at the fan park with Table Mountain in the background:

That evening I walked with my friend Don to the France/Uruguay match at Green Point Stadium where we watched it live from the nosebleeds. Although the match was kind of a bore, it was so cool to see all of this big soccer names play in front of me. Soccer has finally turned into a real sport for me and not just an internet obsession. The next day was USA vs. England. What at day it was! We decided to watch the game at Scrumpy Jack’s instead of go the fan park because we wanted to be able to cautiously watch the game in a place we could call home. After a horrible mistake by Robert Greene, we got one point out of the game we were supposed to lose. A great night!

Outside of the Stadium:

Don & I at our seats in Green Point Stadium:

Scrumpy Jacks friends Nyani and Cia with Anthony and I and some girl I don't know. The night of the USA vs. England match:

Me, Taryn, Ariana and Amanda after the USA tying England:

The next few days involved a lot of soccer watching at home or at other pubs. On the 15th a few of us guys from the house went on a road trip starting at 3:00am in the morning to Port Elizabeth. We had tickets for the Portugal vs. Ivory Coast game that was at 5:00pm and made it there around 1:00pm. We had a nice hostel that was totally outfitted for the world cup and gave us good directions to the game down on the waterfront. Nelson Mandela Stadium was a great venue to watch the game at. The evening was pretty chilly, but we managed to stay warm and keep our spirits up even though the game ended in a 0-0 draw. I am happy to have watched a lot of soccer before so I can appreciate a 0-0 game, but feel bad for other people who are expecting some amazing goals and a close match.

Scrumpy Jacks of course:

We left Port Elizabeth the next morning and made a 7-hour trip up to Bloemfontein. We stayed at one of our friend’s cousin’s house in the city. It was cool to stay at a place that we wouldn’t be able to find online with a person who knew Bloemfontein. Tutu was his name, and we spent the evening with his friends at another person’s apartment watching the Bafana game, which unfortunately didn’t end in their favor. We then went to a bar in the surrounding township that we definitely wouldn’t have gone to without these guys. We were by far the only white people there, but people greeted us and were really interested to talk and hear our story! I had a blast, as did the other guys, and really appreciate Tutu’s hospitality.

Our Nissan Tiida kept us moving for the World Cup:

Nelson Mandela Stadium, Port Elizabeth:

We left for Johannesburg pretty early the next morning for our final destination and final World Cup match. We arrived in the city and picked up our friend Jacob at the airport where we found another pub (go figure) and watched the Argentina game. We left the airport to our hostel with some random guy who drove us in his Mercedes (awesome.). We found our hostel quite easily and were really excited when we walked in because it seemed to be an awesome place to spend a couple days for the World Cup. We unfortunately were relocated to one of the hostels’ satellite bunks, which had a shuttle running to and forth every 30 minutes. We weren’t too disappointed at our move since our place had a TV and some warm showers. The only bad part about the satellite hostel was its location. It happened to be on a random grid in Johannesburg that was shutting down its electricity randomly throughout the day. We were a little irritated to say the least.

The next day brought the greatest sporting event I have ever been to; The USA vs. Slovenia at Ellis Park Stadium. Ellis Park was the venue where South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup that people would recognize from Invictus. It was really cool knowing that we were in a place of history! Our seats were in the second row at one of the corners! The USA went down 0-2 in the first half, which was not very hopeful in any respect. The moods were dim, but we still tried to enjoy the game. The second half started in the best way possible. Landon Donovan scored a wonderful goal from a tight angle, blasting the ball into the upper net. The stadium completely erupted with screams and flags and scarves. When the second goal came, was really the determining point in my life where I knew how loud and high pitched my voice could get. I, without a doubt, sounded like a little schoolgirl screaming after the second goal went in. It was one of the most glorious celebrations I have ever experienced. The 3rd “what should have been a goal” was taken away (and I have it on camera), but we shouldn’t have gone down by two goals in the first place. After the game, we were so tired from cheering and singing all day that we crashed pretty hard at the hostel afterwards.

Stephen & I in our seats for the USA vs. Slovenia match:

Our plane brought us back to Cape Town the next morning. It was very nice to get home after being gone for only 4 days. Going to lots of different cities in South Africa has made me really appreciate Cape Town. It is a city entirely different from the rest. It has everything and everyone. The pace is a little quicker here, and people are far more accommodating and willing to help travelers around. I say this fully knowing that there are great people in all of the cities, but Cape Town is my home right now and I won’t be able to think any city is better than the Mother City.

Home base:

The city is completely draped in South African flags:

The World Cup is running steady right now and I have been watching the games pretty closely. The USA going out the other night was not the happiest moment of my life, but at least it was to Ghana, the last African team in the tournament. I am the last original person in the house now. Everyone else has gone home and left me behind ☹. I spent the weekend at a braai in Nyanga (township) and driving to Simon's Town and around Chapman's Peak Drive one last time on Sunday. New people have been moving in, but the house (and the city in this case) will never be the same without all of the lovely, beautiful people I spent so much time with. I plan on keeping busy these last few days to try and make myself content with leaving my home in South Africa. It will be tough to leave, but I know that I am going home to the family and friends that make my life so great. I will try and update one last time before I leave.

Sible, Me, Lin Li and Mason (friend from home):

At Andrew and Ivy's braai:

My last South African sunset from Camps Bay:

Much love to everyone,
I will be home soon enough,

Namibia

Well, well, well. I have made it home from Namibia in one piece! Before I go into details, I just want to say that Namibia was by far my favorite trip I have taken in South Africa thus far. Everything worked out smoothly with our car and accommodations throughout the country, which made the trip far more relaxed than it could have been. The first day we managed to make it 6 hours north to Springbok, South Africa where we stayed at a nice backpacker/hostel for the night. We splurged on a good meal that night at a steakhouse/seafood a la carte restaurant. It is a much different lifestyle in rural South Africa. The World Cup fever hasn’t really reached these areas since rugby is still the number one sport. Afrikaners typically live in the town, which represents a totally different White community than in the city.

The next morning we left early and crossed into Namibia with ease. Nothing but the hood of the car was checked and we were asked if we had anybody in the trunk, which we didn’t, but we could have easily smuggled a few people through, haha. The Orange River is what marks the border between South Africa and Namibia. I have learned a lot about the Orange River and what it represented as a border for the frontier farmers from the Cape Colony. We crossed it and it actually had water flowing, which is weird to see here since most rivers are seasonal and pretty dry right now. The ecology of Namibia changed pretty quickly from grassland/shrubs of South Africa, to sandy/dirt/shrub. The entire time we drove, we couldn’t comprehend how vast the country was. Namibia is the second least densely populated country in the world. This was entirely noticeable while we drove and wouldn’t see any person for hours other than cars. Even the towns that we drove through were so deserted and kind of lonely feeling, including one of the largest cities in Namibia. We drove all the way to Ai-Ais, an area where there are hot springs near the Fish River. There isn’t much to say about the hot springs, other than the fact that they were hot! They typically stay about 65 degrees Celsius.

An example of how vast this country is:

The five of us on the Fish River:

From Ai-Ais we made our way to the famous Fish River Canyon. The canyon is the second largest erosion canyon in the world with the Grand Canyon representing the largest. I have never been to the Grand Canyon, so this seemed huge! It was so cool looking down the vertical rock faces and throwing rocks off the sides, trying to keep your eye on them and watch them explode at the bottom. There wasn’t much to do in the canyon other than look out across the vast area and see how it snakes its way south to the Orange River. We left and made our way across to the town of Keetmanshoop.

Overlooking the Fish River Canyon:

Fish River Canyon again:

In Keetmanshoop, we stayed at Betties Beds, a nice Afrikaner couple who allowed all five of us to sleep in the same room for only the price of one room. They seemed really nice at first, and we eventually realized that they were so nice to us more or less because we were white. The Afrikaner man literally told us that he was happy to see white kids instead of black people come to their door, and continued to explain that “White is wonderful.” It was an interesting conversation, hearing blatant racism come from this person. We didn’t want to get him riled up about race, so we just kept nodding our heads and looking at each other in disbelief. Other than that, Bettie was a really nice lady who provided a nice place to sleep the night. We left Keetmanshoop early in hopes to make it to Sossusvlei by the afternoon.

Sossusvlei is a National Park that reaches the eastern shore of Namibia that is home to the world’s largest sand dunes. We made it to the campsite in the park around 3:00pm and then drove into the desert in search of a dune to climb. What we witnessed and were doing is just not possible to explain in words. The dunes are some of the most magnificent natural things I have ever seen in the world. We stayed on top of Dune 45 (for some reason a popular dune) for the sunset with bottles of wine and just the warm desert sun mixed with the chilly night, making for one of the most phenomenal nights of my life. It was just so hard to comprehend what we were sitting on was entirely sand. The sand is incredibly red and soft. Considering how warm it was as well, it made for a nice place to lay and watch the sunset. We drove back to the campsite and hung out at the park bar for a bit before an early bed time so we could wake up the next morning for sunrise.

Dunes, that's about all I can say about this:

Embracing Dune 45 (notice the new Sossusvlei desert hat):

Looking out from the top of Dune 45 with the Sossusvlei pan behind us and in front of us:

Thoroughly enjoying the sunset and the sauvignon blanc:

The five of us in the red of the sunset on Dune 45:

Sunset from the top of Dune 45:

We woke up around 5:00am to make sure we could get into the park when it opened at 5:30am and then to the dunes for sunrise around 6:30am. We unknowingly continued driving off of the paved road, which quickly turned into deep sand that our two-wheel drive car couldn’t handle and got completely stuck. This didn’t stop us though. We ditched the car and continued on foot up a random sand dune to just enjoy the sunrise and worry about the car after. The sunrise was so peaceful, looking over the Sossusvlei pan, which carries water underneath the ground and has seasonal rivers running through it when it rains. The color of the dunes in the morning sun was unreal. All in all, the vibes of Namibia thus far were all good. And good vibes are what really make a place enjoyable. We left the national park but not before we ran into the girls from our house that had left a day after us. They were just arriving at Sossusvlei while we were leaving. At this point, I was jealous of them because they were going to see the sunset and sunrise, which was over for us. Sossusvlei was an incredible place to say the least.

Waiting for the sun to rise on the dunes, it was a chilly morning:

Almost there:

A beautiful picture:

We drove pretty far back towards the border most of the day during the hotter parts of the day. Instead of camping at a campsite, we ended up parking on the side of the road. It literally was only 20 feet from the main artery of the Namibian road system, which was by the way only a two-lane highway without shoulders. The next largest road in Namibia was a nice gravel road, losing all paved goodness entirely. And then the next type of road in the road hierarchy was complete rubbish, making for an uncomfortable ride. We woke up to the sound of a semi honking as it drove by quite a few times through the night so we didn’t get as much sleep as we hoped for, but hey, it was free! We drove to the Orange River the next morning in hopes to find some sort of canoeing adventure place.

The second biggest type of road in Namibia:

Sunrise the morning after camping on the side of the freeway. The largest freeway in Namibia is that small Wisconsin highway behind the car:

What we found far exceeded our expectations for canoeing. We managed a solid breakfast and a 2-hour canoe down river for a really reasonable price considering we were at some big adventure lodge. The canoeing ended our wonderful trip in Namibia, which went 100% according to plan. We actually didn’t have a plan at all and winged the entire trip. I suppose that works out better sometimes. After canoeing we drove all the way back to Cape Town, which was about 8 hours away. We saw a bunch of beautiful rainbows along the way through the rainy and sunny evening in northern South Africa. Other than the fact that we only had four CDs to listen to for 5 days, our trip to Namibia was a complete success!

Getting my canoe on down the Orange River with a kayak paddle:

A good way to enter South Africa:

A farewell to Namibia sunset as we drove back to Cape Town:

Only two more days until the World Cup! The city is completely encompassed in World Cup fever. Today I went downtown with Dan and Stephen to buy a Bafana bafana jersey and a vuvuzela. The vuvuzelas are the trumpet-horns that represent a large part of African soccer. Though they are pretty annoying when watching TV, we have mostly tuned them out and embraced the sound. This entire World Cup is going to be so much better if people just embrace what is going on around them, which is what was happening today. Some storeowners were a little annoyed by all of the vuvus, but I just told them to go along with it instead of worrying. How chill of me, right? The entire country has been a party since getting back from Namibia. I cannot imagine how amazing this place is going to be on Friday. ON FRIDAY! I remember almost a year and a half ago when I realized that the World Cup was going to be in South Africa at the time I was looking to study abroad. At the time it seemed so unrealistic to come here. Now, it is a complete reality and is only two days away. I am excited myself, but even more excited for South Africa and Africa as a whole. The continent seems to be tuned in on South Africa and is doing everything it can to present the world with an unforgettable first World Cup on African soil. I have no doubt in my mind that the amazing people in this country will show everyone how wonderful a place it is here.

CBC News quote: "Racial and ethnic tension always lurks ominous in the air, an unspoken prospect in the background. Now as everyone drives around with flags flying from their cars, it is being blown away in fevered World Cup breeze."

From Times Live: "South African workers cheer in support of the south African soccer team, also known as Bafana Bafana, in a nationwide call of support for South Africans to cheer on their team in Cape Town for the upcoming 2010 World Cup June 9, 2010."

Ayoba Afrika!

The World Cup is here.

Durban

Hey all!

We got home from Durban early yesterday morning. The trip was great in the end, but started off kind of weak. Right off the bat Durban was not very fun because our backpacker (hostel) owners were not very welcoming to us arriving. This set us off on the wrong track for the next half day because taxis were bringing us to the wrong places, the weather was not nearly as sunny and warm as we expected, and our disappointing dinner of chinese food didn't even compare to Asian Supermarket on Lower Main Road here in Observatory. Fortunately, the next day was really warm and sunny, so we managed to make our way to the beach. There I swam in the Indian Ocean for the first time in my life! It was a beautiful ocean that was way warmer than the atlantic has been. We also spent some time in the Suncoast Casino where my luck didn't fare me well unfortunately. This didn't deter me from the better time we were having in the city though. We managed to get some good food that night. The next day we spent some time at an Indian market, which was no different than the markets in Cape Town with the thousands of reproduced "African" things that are more than likely mass produced in some huge factory in China.

Sea turtle at the aquarium:

The best photo of the Durban World Cup stadium. It totally overpowered the city (which was good). It is also a new stadium, similar to Green Point:

Durban was a fun city, but not nearly as entertaining as Cape Town has been. The population is much different than Cape Town with only 7% white and a huge Indian population. Durban is the city with the largest Indian population in the world outside of India, which had a huge influence on the cuisine. Race relations in the city seemed to be far less progressive than Cape Town. We asked many people where we should go out to bars and restaurants and we were pretty much told to stay in the neighborhood we were in instead of going downtown because we were white. It was far different than Cape Town in this respect, where race, although hugely apparent and influential, doesn't impede on peoples' interactions with each other. All in all, Durban really just made us all appreciate Cape Town much more.

A massive oil rig leaving Port Natal (Durban):

Lately the house has had a totally different vibe than it did during school. Everyone is finished with their exams and some people are even packing to either go home or move to different places. It is sad, but also exciting. The world cup is coming up so quickly. It feels weird with the house seeming like it is almost over when we haven't even hit the biggest part of being in South Africa yet. It will be a bittersweet goodbye to all of my friends in the house and around the city. We have been taking minibuses to the city quite frequently as of late in order to do everything we want to downtown. We hit up the old Dutch castle from 1652 (fort) that once stood on the shore line before more land was added to extend the city. We also have been walking through the Company Gardens a lot, which originally provided produce for passing Dutch East India Company (VOC) trade ships; hence the garden part of the Company Gardens and the Company part of the Company Gardens. Amazing how things work like that.

A rose in the Company Garden rose section with Table Mountain behind:

Some baby ducks that were trying to make it into a fountain.. cute stuff:

Tomorrow morning a few of my roommates and I are driving up to Namibia for a 6 day trip to the Namib dessert. I cannot wait to see the dunes and the extensive dessert! We are planning on camping most nights in the chilly dessert nights, but I am sure we will find ourselves in a backpackers a couple of nights. Almost our entire house is driving up to Namibia but all at different times. We leave tomorrow morning, the girls leave Saturday morning and some other people leave on Saturday evening. The drive is long to the border (about 9 or 10 hours) and then the drive to Sossusvlei where the dunes are is another 8 or so hours. Good thing we all get along then right?

I will update when we return on the 9th! Bye for now everyone..